From Batman to Birdman to bad man! Michael Keaton 'cast as villain in new Spider-Man movie'... 24 years after last starring as Caped Crusader

Michael Keaton was once a Batman then a Birdman and now he will be a bad man.

The 64-year-old has signed up to play a villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming, according to Variety.

Meanwhile, in the world of superhero films, Walt Disney Studios showed Captain America: Civil War on Wednesday morning to a rapt audience of theater owners and industry types at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in advance of its theatrical bow on May 6.

Michael Keaton was once a Batman then a Birdman and now he will be a bad man. The 64-year-old has signed up to play a villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming (seen at this year's Oscars)

The film, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo ('Captain America: The Winter Soldier'), finds the Avengers divided over their guilt about the peripheral body counts that always seem to be a consequence of their attempts to save the world. It's a theme — the real life costs of supersized powers — that is permeating more than one story line in this age of ongoing superhero movies.

Thus in 'Civil War,' half of the Avengers decide to submit to international oversight, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and War Machine (Don Cheadle). They get an assist from two new characters, too — Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who gets a big, quite funny and impressive introduction before debuting in his own film, 'Spider-Man: Homecoming,' out in 2017, and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), who has a stand-alone film coming in 2018.

First round: Keaton starred in 1989's Batman before bowing out following Batman Returns in 1992

The first few acts tread water in the lead-up to the climatic battles (there are a few). The absence of former 'Avengers' director Joss Whedon is most felt in these early scenes that could have used a little more wit and banter. The essence of the conflict feels like a bit of a MacGuffin, too — but that barely even matters once the fighting starts and you're reminded just how enjoyable these characters are when they're together — even in conflict.

Marvel gets by with a lot of deficiencies on the strength of its characters' charisma, and 'Civil War' is no exception. It doesn't matter how iconic the superhero is if they can't keep an audience's attention for nearly a decade of movies. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't rather spend a few minutes with Ant-Man, a character most of us hadn't even heard of three years ago, than an entire film with this iteration of Superman.

This image released by Disney shows Robert Downey Jr., left, and Sebastian Stan in a scene from Marvel's 'Captain America: Civil War,' opening in theaters nationwide on May 6, 2016. (Disney/Marvel via AP)